The Shannara Chronicles

Scions/Elf Queen/Druid/Talismans was the Shadowen deal. They were still dealing with Brona and Allanon was still alive in the Sword/Elfstones/Wishsong portion. Haw, it's been 20 years and I still remember those books. Sword was such a blatant ripoff of LotR it wasn't even funny. Good thing I read Sword before Tolkien's non-hobbit stuff so at least it was semi enjoyable at the time.

I read these as a teenager. Sword was ok, Elfstones was the worst, I can't remember. Scions through Talisman was actually not awful. I know there were a ton of books that have been released over time about the world. I never kept up though.

Terry brooks actually wrote Sword as a teenager I think. It wasn't particularly good. I read it when I was 9 and it was an okay intro to the genre. I remember almost nothing about the rest of the series. Oddly enough I actually liked Magic Kingdom For Sale... I wonder if it would be terrible reading it as an adult.

Sword of Shanara was published in 1977 and Terry Brooks was born in 44.

Hmm, apparently he started writing in 67 while he was in law school. I stand corrected. I guess I was just reaching for a reasonable explanation for the mediocrity of it.

For how not-great it is it is one super thick book. I'd call them childrens books but holy crap they're like 2,000 pages each. Young teen books. Learn a childer some english.

Elfstones is the one where the demons break through the wall and the girl turns into a tree! That craps awesome! And it's got a demon named THE REAPER. And he wields a scythe. And he'll stalk you and fuck you up!

Antagonist_sl said:

Hmm, apparently he started writing in 67 while he was in law school. I stand corrected. I guess I was just reaching for a reasonable explanation for the mediocrity of it.

Click to expand...

Not to excuse him but it was his first book and most fantasy back in the late 70's was pretty much bleh, I'm sure his editors had him keep it generic for sales. I think it sold pretty well.

He's had a long career and has three decent book series , I've read better and much much worse.

Elfstones was decent and makes more sense to start with. Sword was pretty much a direct ripoff of LoTR.

Saw at least 3 posts saying "LotR ripoff"

Really isn't at all. It takes place in a post-apocalyptic America/Earth, and a some of the "fantasy" is based on mutations/radiation. That said, I only read the original series years and years ago, not a big fan of it.

I loved his Landover series. He sold the rights to those too, and the original screenplay would have been like Jurassic Park, with him and two children tromping through Fantasyland (the entire premise of that fucking series was his wife and kid died horribly). /facepalm. So I can't imagine this will be any better, he clearly doesn't care if they do it right.

The series as a whole probably wasn't entirely derivative of LotR. The first book was pretty blatant in terms of characters at least as far as i remember

http://https://www.redbrick.dcu.ie/~melmoth/comp.htm

I always wondered if Brooks played the long game and knew he was going to tie Shannara in with his Word/Void series to complete the tale. I think it worked pretty well.

Heck my ranger in EQ was named Jair, I enjoyed the series that much back in the day.

I always thought Terry Brooks' Shannara series had the coolest names. Panamon Creel, Ciba Blue, Walker Boh, Eventine Ellessedil, Damson Rhee, Maw Grint, Rimmer Dall, he had a way with making a neat sounding name.

And yes, being on MTV, I have to agree this is destined for a terrible, evil fate. I get a feeling this isn't going to get a LOTR or GoT treatment by a serious long-time fanboy.

One last little soapbox thing about LotR... Tolkien was incredible, he really was. I love his books and he was clearly a nerd of the highest order. David Eddings was working a mundane job and one day saw The Hobbit in a bookstore window. He read the Hobbit, loved it, but couldn't believe no one had come along and done any decent Fantasy since. So he wrote his series(s) which became best sellers. But you know what he based it on? The same thing Tolkien did...King Arthur and the Holy Grail. Nothing is new under the sun. We just have to try and enjoy it, and stop thinking anyone really rips anyone off. It happens all the time in minor ways and almost never happens in any major way.

Faltigoth_sl said:

I always thought Terry Brooks' Shannara series had the coolest names. Panamon Creel, Ciba Blue, Walker Boh, Eventine Ellessedil, Damson Rhee, Maw Grint, Rimmer Dall, he had a way with making a neat sounding name.

And yes, being on MTV, I have to agree this is destined for a terrible, evil fate. I get a feeling this isn't going to get a LOTR or GoT treatment by a serious long-time fanboy.

Click to expand...

I would actually prefer that a non-fanboy throw this thing together. Regardless, they will probably cast an unwed 16 y/o pregnant girl as Shea Ohmsford and (best case scenario) we will get
The Situation as Allanon.

Definitely agree about the names though.

Yeah full disclosure: The discerning adult reader in me KNOWS SoS is 95% copy pasta, but I still love the book for various reasons.

I'm not saying don't enjoy the books. The rest of the series (what I've read of it at least) is pretty original and I'm not ashamed to say that I enjoyed it.

You have to admit that there is more than a passing similarity though. And not just in a Joseph Campbell, Hero with a Thousand Faces kind of way. There is an
analogous character for everyone in LotR (almost) that plays a similar role and advances the plot in a similar manner.

Jait_sl said:

Saw at least 3 posts saying "LotR ripoff"

Really isn't at all. It takes place in a post-apocalyptic America/Earth, and a some of the "fantasy" is based on mutations/radiation. That said, I only read the original series years and years ago, not a big fan of it.

I loved his Landover series. He sold the rights to those too, and the original screenplay would have been like Jurassic Park, with him and two children tromping through Fantasyland (the entire premise of that fucking series was his wife and kid died horribly). /facepalm. So I can't imagine this will be any better, he clearly doesn't care if they do it right.

Click to expand...

My niece wrote a college paper on how much of a ripoff of LoTR it was, she went point by point through the similarities, before I read her paper I never thought of it like that though. I think the similarity ended after Sword though, seemed clear it was his freshmen effort at writing and I'm sure growing up a fantasy geek in the 50's you would read the hell out of LoTR.

man jon favreau got fat

shown at comic con, be on MTV (yes you read that right) January 2016. MTV chasing that tween game of thrones money

spronk_sl said:

man jon favreau got fat

shown at comic con, be on MTV (yes you read that right) January 2016. MTV chasing that tween game of thrones money

Click to expand...

I'm looking forward to the first episode.

Shannara wasn't my favorite series, and I don't even think it's Brooks' best work, but I think Allanon is a really good and memorable character. The hints of a post-apocalyptic, fallen tech earth were neat, too. There's even some feminism in Shannara, for those who need it.